The summer heat was intense, yet the sunlight outside couldn’t penetrate this cramped little space.
Lunch was unusually silent.
An Yucan kept putting pork liver into An Ning’s bowl, hardly eating any himself.
An Ning understood perfectly – his appetite had been poor lately. It wasn’t that he wanted pork liver; he just wanted to make sure she had some.
Truth be told, she didn’t really want it either.
She just… wanted to make a request to Li Chunfang, like any daughter acting cute with her mother.
However, she didn’t get the response she hoped for.
When An Tianhua stumbled in reeking of alcohol, the three at the table remained silent, each eating their meal.
They all seemed long accustomed to his drunken state.
An Tianhua glanced at them, kicked a nearby chair, and cursed, “Damn! This house is so lifeless every day, is someone going to die or what?”
Li Chunfang had no intention of engaging with him, but these words struck a nerve.
An Yucan was her everything – she wouldn’t tolerate anyone mentioning “death” in her presence.
Slamming her chopsticks on the table with a “smack!”, Li Chunfang turned livid. “If anyone’s going to die, it should be you! Go die right now!”
Drunk and enraged, An Tianhua smashed his liquor bottle on the floor. “I’m not dying! You all can go die instead!”
Li Chunfang pounded the table, pointing and yelling at An Tianhua. “Yes, we’ll die! You’d be happy if the three of us died! Look at you – drinking all day, causing trouble when drunk! You’re not acting human, this isn’t a proper home – what kind of life is this!”
An Ning and An Yucan continued eating as if nothing had happened.
After decades of the same routine, they had grown accustomed and numb.
Yet, despite themselves, their hands trembled slightly while picking up food.
“If we can’t go on, then let’s not!”
An Tianhua grabbed a chair and threw it to the ground. “If you all get the hell out of here, it’ll be quiet!”
Li Chunfang stood up, pointing at him while crying and cursing through her tears.
The food had long lost its taste. An Ning looked up and saw the boy opposite her with quietly moist eyes.
She stood without a word and pushed An Yucan’s wheelchair outside.
Behind them, Li Chunfang and An Tianhua were screaming themselves hoarse at each other – she didn’t want to hear any more.
She felt like that completely loveless “home” was like invisible hands choking her, making it hard to breathe.
As they emerged from the alleyway, a ray of sunlight fell upon them.
An Yucan suddenly spoke, his voice hoarse. “Sis, I don’t want treatment anymore.”
When he was nine, he was diagnosed with congenital heart disease. The series of treatment costs and expensive surgery fees had worsened their already struggling family’s situation.
And he, at an age that should have been full of youthful energy, was confined to a wheelchair.
He had been sitting in it for eight years.
It was also that year that An Tianhua started drinking heavily and became violently temperamental.
“Don’t talk nonsense.”
An Ning forced a pale smile and continued pushing him forward into the bustling street.
“You haven’t gone to university yet, haven’t seen the world outside. Your life is just beginning.”
“Yucan, you will get better.”
An Ning said this to him, and to herself.
Everything would get better.
Even in the most lifeless existence, one can always find light.
The bustling street was unusually lively, and as they spoke, the roaring sound of motorcycles rose and fell, drawing nearer.
A line of cool motorcycles sped past her, one after another.
An Ning suddenly stopped in her tracks and looked towards the motorcycle procession. In her mind, the face of an exceptionally handsome man involuntarily surfaced.
Then, she shook her head vigorously.
They were merely strangers who had crossed paths briefly.
It was unlikely they would ever meet again in this lifetime.
Besides, how could a man as handsome as him ever step back into her stagnant, lifeless existence?
On the other side.
The speeding motorcycle suddenly came to a halt at the corner of the street.
The black helmet was removed, revealing a face so strikingly handsome it was almost dazzling.
Lu Xiyan casually brushed his disheveled short hair, adding a touch of untamed youthfulness to his demeanor.
His deep gaze followed the distant figure.
A slender girl was pushing a heavy wheelchair, struggling step by step up the slope.
He watched with interest for a few more moments.
“Lu Shao, what are you looking at?”
Another motorcycle caught up and stopped beside Lu Xiyan’s. Liang Xu followed his gaze, thinking he had spotted an acquaintance.
Lu Xiyan didn’t answer his question but instead turned to ask him, “Liang Xu, have you ever heard of someone selling blood just because they’re short on money?”
Liang Xu was taken aback and chuckled teasingly, “I say, Lu Shao, you should read more social news. There are too many poor people in this world, and plenty who can’t even afford a meal. The gap between the rich and the poor is vast—not everyone is born at the pinnacle like you.”
Lu Xiyan lowered his eyes in thought for a moment, then glanced back at the spot where the figure had been, only to find it had already vanished around the street corner.
“Why are you asking?” Liang Xu inquired curiously. “Starting to care about the lives of the common folk?”
“Nothing.”
Lu Xiyan put his helmet back on, revved the throttle, and sped off.
…
By the time An Ning pushed An Yucan back home, Li Chunfang had already tidied up the house.
It was so clean it was as if nothing had ever happened.
But An Ning knew that their dilapidated home no longer had anything left for An Tianhua to smash.
In the past, when he drank, he would smash the TV, the refrigerator… anything of value.
Later, Li Chunfang stopped buying replacements. If something was broken, so be it—they’d just go without.
Over the years, the only things An Tianhua could smash were stools, chairs, cups, and plates.
Once the broken porcelain was cleared away, it was all clean again. That was just fine.
Or so Li Chunfang said.
An Tianhua and Li Chunfang were sitting in the main room, and with them was another person—Chen Yumei, who ran the small grocery store at the entrance of the alley.
The three of them were discussing something.
An Ning assumed Chen Yumei had come about the liquor debt An Tianhua owed.
“An Ning and Yucan are back?”
Seeing them return, Chen Yumei stood up. Her eyes swept over An Yucan sitting in the wheelchair before she said to Li Chunfang, “Chunfang, think about what I just said. It won’t do your family any harm.”
Li Chunfang acknowledged her with a sound, her gaze lingering on An Ning for a second before she saw Chen Yumei out.
“Mom, did you pay Aunt Chen for the liquor debt?” An Ning asked.
“Where would I get the money?”
Li Chunfang shot a glare at An Tianhua and said loudly, “Whoever owes it should pay it. I certainly don’t have the money!”
An Tianhua didn’t say a word, just took one drag after another on his cigarette.
An Ning had to go to work that afternoon, so she left first. When she reached the alley entrance, she ran into Chen Yumei again.
This time, Chen Yumei didn’t mention anything about money. Instead, she looked An Ning up and down with a faint, ambiguous smile in her eyes.
From head to toe, from top to bottom.
It made An Ning feel that her gaze was inexplicable and hard to decipher.